OPENCoastS and EOSC-hub

Anabela Oliveira introduces the service and how EOSC-hub supports it

What is OPENCoastS?

The OPENCoastS service builds ondemand circulation forecast systems for user-selected sections of the coast and maintains them running operationally for a userdefined time frame. This daily service generates forecasts of water levels and 2D velocities (and wave parameters in the near future) over the spatial region of interest for periods of 48 hours, based on numerical simulations of all relevant physical processes. OPENCoastS was developed by LNEC, LIP, CNRS/University of La Rochelle and University of Cantabria. Forecast systems are fundamental components of emergency response and routine management of coastal regions. They provide coastal managers with accurate and timely predictions on water conditions (e.g., water levels and velocities, wave characteristics), and support multiple uses such as navigation, water monitoring, port operations, dredging works and construction activities on the coast. Forecast systems can also help emergency services and civil protection authorities by anticipating natural disasters (e.g. floods, storm surges), predicting the impacts of human-made coastal disasters (e.g. oil and chemical spills) and supporting in search and rescue operations. For over 10 years, LNEC has been deploying WIFF – a Water Information Forecast Framework, applicable from the ocean to hydrographic basins, including the urban interface. However, good forecast systems require not only a strong knowledge of coastal processes but also of information technology, along with access to significant computational and storage resources. The setup and maintenance of these systems constitutes a major difficulty for many coastal research groups. Before the EOSC-hub project, services for generic deployment of forecast frameworks at user-specified locations were not available.

OPENCoastS and EOSC-hub

The OPENCoastS service takes advantage of two e-infrastructures for computational and storage resources: the National Advanced Computing Infrastructure – INCD (integrated in the National Roadmap for Infrastructures of the Foundation for Science and Technology of Portugal) and IFCA (Institute of Physics of Cantabria, Spain). OPENCoastS is supported by the EGI computational resources, through the EOSC-hub project, being available as one of its thematic services. 

The architecture of the OPENCoastS service includes:

• the user interface component, a web based portal;
• the computation component, where simulation results are generated and postprocessed;
• and the archive component, responsible for preserving all relevant data. Last year in December, LNEC and its EOSChub partners organised a one-day tutorial on OPENCoastS. The training was provided on site in Portugal, Spain and France, by video conferencing and by web streaming. This tutorial covered all the relevant topics to help everyone understanding and using the service. The course was a huge success and gathered 148 participants from 14 countries.

More information on the tutorial is available on the OPENCoastS website.